NASA
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NASA
Human Rating and NASA-STD-3001
Human-rating is a critical certification process that validates the safety, reliability, and suitability of space systems—including orbiters, launch vehicles, rovers, spacesuits, habitats, and other crewed elements—for human use and interaction. This process ensures that systems are designed not only to protect human life but also to accommodate human needs and effectively integrate human capabilities. Human-rating requires that systems can tolerate failures,…
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NASA
NASA Astronauts to Answer Questions from Students in Minnesota
NASA astronauts Michael Fincke and Zena Cardman will connect with students in Minnesota as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) questions aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 20, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. Media interested in covering the event must RSVP…
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NASA
Countdown to Space Station’s Silver Jubilee with Silver Research
This November marks a quarter century of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station, which has served as a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including human missions to the Moon and Mars. To kick off the orbiting laboratory’s silver 25th anniversary countdown, here are a few silver-themed science investigations that…
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NASA
Spacewalk Pop-Up
Former NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough is photographed as he left the airlock hatch during a spacewalk on Jan. 13, 2017. Kimbrough performed nine spacewalks during his three spaceflights. He retired in July 2022. Astronauts conduct spacewalks to perform maintenance on the space station, install new equipment, or deploy science experiments. These activities also inform future missions like the Artemis campaign and exploring Mars;…
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NASA
NASA Seeks Proposals for 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge
NASA now is accepting proposals from student teams for a contest to design, build, and test rovers for Moon and Mars exploration through Sept. 15. Known as the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, student rovers should be capable of traversing a course while completing mission tasks. The challenge handbook has guidelines for remote-controlled and human-powered divisions. The cover of the HERC 2026 handbook, which is…
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NASA
Summer Triangle Corner: Altair
Altair is the last stop on our trip around the Summer Triangle! The last star in the asterism to rise for Northern Hemisphere observers before summer begins, brilliant Altair is high overhead at sunset at the end of the season in September. Altair might be the most unusual of the three stars of the Triangle, due to its great speed:…
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NASA
Hubble Examines Low Brightness, High Interest Galaxy
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image zooms in on the feathery spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 45, which lies just 22 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (the Whale). The portrait uses data drawn from two complementary observing programs. The first took a broad view of 50 nearby galaxies, leveraging Hubble’s ability to observe ultraviolet through visible into near-infrared light…
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NASA
NASA Seeks Industry Feedback on Fission Surface Power
As part of the agency’s initiative to return humanity to the Moon and eventually send the first astronaut – an American – to Mars, NASA is surveying industry for interest and feedback on a fission surface power system, through a Request for Information issued Thursday. Earlier this month, NASA declared its intent to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s to…
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NASA
Astronauts Plant Seed Pillows in New Space Agriculture Study
When the Crew-11 astronauts launched to the International Space Station on August 1, 2025, they carried with them another chapter in space farming: the latest VEG-03 experiments, complete with seed pillows ready for planting. Growing plants provides nutrition for astronauts, as well as psychological benefits that help maintain crew morale during missions. During VEG-03 MNO, astronauts will be able to…
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NASA
After Storied 34 Year Career, Steve Platnick Retires from NASA
Dr. Steven “Steve” Platnick stepped down from his role at NASA on August 8, 2025, after more than three decades of public service. Steve began his career at NASA as a physical scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2002. He moved to the Earth Science Division in 2009, where he has served in various senior management roles, including as the…
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